This story has occupied much of my time these last few days and I even joined the Facebook “Justice for Ashya” group.

Of course, it’s not easy to learn the facts as an outsider but thousands of people saw a grave miscarriage of justice when the parents of this sick child were arrested and put in jail several hundred miles away from the hospital where their son was taken -under police guard – and, at first, denied visits from his siblings.

How inhumane is that? What led the Spanish Police to come down so heavily on this unfortunate family?

The British Police had issued a European Arrest Warrant which should normally only be use in extreme circumstances such as terrorism. No wonder the Spanish thought they were dealing with hardened criminels and it looks as though that’s how they were treated.

So why did the British Police act in this manner? Well, it may have been a bit OTT but in my opinion (shared by a large number of others) the doctors at Southampton General overstated their case when (after 6 hours!) they realised that Ashya had gone missing. They must have known his parents well enough to be sure that they wouldn’t do anything to harm their son: they may even have been aware that the family understood and could manage his feeding, and yet they set off a hue and cry for a boy whose life was in imminent danger and whose neglectful parents had whisked him away.from the care he urgently needed. (Since their release Mr King says he told the hospital they intended to go to Spain)

The family, blissfully unaware of all this were on their way to Spain to sell their house to fund Proton beam treatment for Ashya. Hardly the actions of uncaring parents!

As soon as they saw their pictures on TV and in newspapers they put up a video on Youtube saying Ashya was fine. They had bought plenty of food online and had the means of charging his feeding apparatus batteries. In fact, he seemed happier than he had been in hospital. The dad asked that ‘this ridiculous chase’ could be called off.

Maybe it was too late or maybe no-one would have tried to put a stop to it but they were recognised and arrested.

What a nightmare for the parents of a five year old boy with stage 4 cancer to be dragged away from their son. How terrible for the little boy to be taken to a foreign hospital where even his brothers and sisters were not allowed to see him immediately.

By now, a petition with over 100,000 signatures had been presented at Downing street and the hospital had put out a damage limitation statement. They were sorry that communication had broken down and that the Kings had lost trust in their consultant. But they did NOT say sorry about the nightmare they had inflicted on this family.

One can only imagine the reasons behind the consultant’s actions but I believe Mr King when he says that he was afraid his son would be put under a protection order if he questioned or dared to disagree with the treatment on offer. This would mean he would be barred from seeing Ashya. The hospital may claim that Proton Beam therapy was discussed but then there are two versions: one,they didn’t think it would help in Ashya’s case and two: they would have been prepared to offer it if they thought they could pay privately. They also let it be known that the family were Jehovah’s Witnesses (who are known for refusing blood transfusions) but this had nothing whatsoever to do with Ashya’s case. There was absolutely no reason to make this little boy a ward of court and insist he be returned for treatment.

Some doctors like to be regarded as pretty infallible and omniscient but people nowadays realise that they are far from it. . The internet does have some whacky information but an intelligent person can usually search and find sensible alternatives. It doesn’t take a doctor’s qualification to see the advantages of a single beam targeting cancer cells instead of the usual radiotherapy that burns healthy braincells as well. (In the latest news bulletin Dr Nicolin is quoted as saying Ashya needs two sessions of chemotherapy before he can have the Proton Beam treatment. First, how can he have the nerve to make ANY suggestions after the way he has treated the family and secondly, can he really justify chemo which will weaken Ashya still further and make him feel really ill? Hopefully the oncologist who is being sent to Spain to advise the family will have a better idea – such as sending him directly to prague where they are ready and waiting to look after him.)

It didn’t take long for the public to see how wrong it was to hunt this family down and separate a child from his parents at such a crucial time. No-one was even saying that a crime had been committed so the big question is:

Why did it take so long for the authorities to reverse these idiotic and totally inappropriate decisions?

You would think that someone had the authority to pick up a phone and admit it was all a big mistake and the parents should have been reunited with their son within hours not days.

There’s something wrong with the way things are done if a blatant mistake is allowed to carry on because of what? The right paperwork and procedures?

Yes, I know this isn’t a pig. It’s Kica, my dog. But she is the cause of my question.

Let me explain. Kica is difficult to feed. She’s ultra fussy but I think she deserves a bit of spoiling after her awful life cowering in a horrible dog pound in Serbia. She had distemper and gum infections that weren’t treated so has lost most of her teeth. She still has a fistula between her nasal and oral cavities which cause her to snort and sneeze from time to time but after three operations since being rescued they still haven’t closed. She has learned to live with it.

It’s been impossible to find a dogfood that she likes and the amount of tinned food I’ve thrown away doesn’t bear thinking about. Jay and CC brought back some different makes the last time they went to England and she took a fancy to Butcher’s dog food but we can’t get that here.

So I asked Jay to look for cheap cuts of meat that I could cook for her and mix with dog biscuits softened in the cooking juice. Bingo! She loved it.

Now pork is the most common (and least expensive) meat in our area but I was surprised when he brought back pig’s tongue, throat and tail all found on the ordinary meat counter. Only once has he found some beef marked for animals.

Do people really eat these parts of a pig? I’ve eaten lanque de boeuf so I suppose langue de porc isn’t so far removed and, sure enough, there were plenty of recipes to be found on Google France. .I’ve also eaten gesiers (birds’ gizzards) but eating pig’s throat doesn’t sound very tasty. However, there were also recipes for this online.

But pig’s tail! How would you eat that?? The package said it would need 45 minutes in a pressure cooker or three and a half hours in a saucepan. Kica’s supper is on the stove now but there are recipes for pig’s tail wiith chick peas or lentils and various herbs if ever I should dare serve it up to the family. . . . . . . . .

As mentioned in the previous post the visitors I was looking forward to seeing couldn’t come this weekend.

Unfortunately I had asked one of the local hunters if he would sell me something from his freezer and it was too late to cancel the request.

Nevermind, I thought I could keep it in my freezer but he had thawed it and there was a vast quantitiy: two legs and two shoulders. It was a mixture of venison and boar but once I got it home I didn’t know which was which. Yesterday I cooked the two leg joints and I would guess that we had the boar last night and the venison, reheated in the gravy, for lunch today.

I cooked the two shoulders slowly in the oven this morning after marinating them in red wine overnight. Not sure what I’ll do with them tomorrow. Considering Bear and Whale’s tastes it coud be a version of Cottage Pie!

As I had time on my hands I decided to pick some plums and mirabelles to make jam. This is the first year that the mirabelle tree has produced a good quantity of fruit. Last yearI I counted all of six but this year the branches are heaving. Lots have already fallen and the chickens have been pecking at them and some are beginning to rot. The traditional method of harvesting them – put a sheet on the ground and shake the tree – doesn’t seem very practical in a chicken run where they could walk all over the fruit and even poo on it.

Even picking by hand has it’s hazards as Molly thinks she’s a parrot and often climbs onto my shoulder. She was sitting there during the plum picking and then I smelled an awful smell and found she had poohed down my back.

There are two plum trees .but i don’t recognise the varieties. One produces cherry sized plums which are meant for jam or ‘gouttes’ (home-made fruit spirit) and the other produces two kinds:- elongated purple plums which remain rock hard and small, round red ones, again for jam and gouttes.

I picked about 6 kilos and after hours of stoning and stirring there are only ten pots of jam to show for it.